Kirsten McKone

Biography: I'm a first year student in the clinical-developmental program working with Brooke Molina. I'm originally from North Dakota, have five siblings, and my bachelor's degree is in music - I play the cello well, and piano poorly.

Research interests: Our lab focuses on ADHD and risk for substance use and abuse. My interests are still evolving, but I'm most interested in research that examines risk and resilience to psychopathology through genetically influenced characteristics (temperament, personality) in interaction with potentially malleable individual and environmental factors. 

Statistical experience: I've completed coursework in ANOVA, regression, and structural equation modeling, but have limited on-the-ground experience to date. While not directly related to stats, I've spent a lot of time cleaning and coding large longitudinal data sets (Add Health, SECCYD), so I'm practiced in decoding complicated survey logic and constructing variables of interest. 

Software experience: I'm most proficient in SAS, but I feel comfortable in SPSS and can manage in R. My lab does a lot of work in Mplus, so I anticipate that being an area of interest going forward.

Methodological interests: I'm primarily interested in longitudinal modeling: longitudinal growth modeling, path analysis, SEM, cluster analysis/mixture modeling, although I'd like to partially echo Catie in saying that I'm largely approaching CAMeL as an opportunity to help me discover what kinds of questions I could potentially answer in my research. 

I wouldn't say that I have any particular statistical strengths at this point, but I'm happy to be a sounding board or discussion partner if it would be helpful!